Paper tray and guide for duplicating machine



March 13, 1934. N. T. SHEPHERD PAPER TRAY AND GUIDE FOR DUPLICATING MACHINES Filed Sept. 28, 1931 Qz mmez zviz azmz Zgdlzcss Patented Mar. 13, 1934 UNITE STATES PATENEE' -FFICE PAPER TRAY AND GUIDE FOR DUPLICATING MACHINE Application September 28, 1931, Serial No. 565,507

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This invention relates to improvements in paper trays, feed guides and strippers for flat bed duplicating machines where the impression is secured by a roller having reciprocating motion over the bed.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a paper tray to be carried by the reciprocating carriage so as to place the stock in convenient position to be fed into the machine as compared with standard practice where the stock is placed on a tray or shelf to one side or above the duplicator and the operator is forced to undergo more or less physical fatigue in reaching for each sheet. The present construction makes it possible for the operator to add materially to the amount of work he can turn out in a given time without adding to the physical strain involved in the operation of the machine.

Another object is to provide a feed hopper for reciprocating carriage duplicators of such nature that a sheet may be freely dropped into the hopper making is unnecessary for the operator to maintain his grasp on the sheet as standard practice now requires, the hopper guiding the sheet into the machine and entirely relieving the operator of the task of making sure that the edge of each sheet properly enters between the rollers of the machine.

A further object is to provide a hopper device which will not only operate to properly and quickly feed each sheet into the machine, but which will also act as a guide in the stripping or discharging of a printed sheet from the machine, to confine or guide the sheet in the discharging operation so that it cannot become entangled with any parts of the operating mechanism, and to thus relieve the operator of maintaining a constant pull on the sheet.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary paper guide plate which will guide each sheet when it is being stripped or discharged from the machine in such a direction that the sheet cannot become entangled with any of the working parts of the machine, this auxiliary guide plate, however, being necessary only in certain character of work as will hereinafter appear.

A still further object of the invention is to produce an auxiliary guide plate carried by an oscillating part of the machine which will cooperate with a fixed hopper mechanism in the feeding and discharging of sheets from the machine.

Another object is to produce a device of the character set forth which is of strong, durable, eflicient and inexpensive construction whereby the work of duplicating on a fiat bed duplicator may be materially speeded up and better and more copies produced with less fatigue on the operator, and in order that it may be fully un-- derstood, reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a duplicator carriage equipped with the device of the invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the combined paper tray and feed hopper;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3--3 of Figure l and showing the association of the impression rollers with the present hopper;

Figure 4 is a sectional view similar to Figure 3 but showing a slightly modified construction; and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary front View of Figure 4, showing the auxiliary guide plate and hopper in operative position.

The invention is shown as applied to the carriage of a flat bed duplicating machine wherein 1 represents the impression bed, 2 the guide rods at one side of the machine and 3 the track at the other side of the machine. The carriage 4 has a tubular guide 5 in sliding engagement with the rod 2 and is leveled with respect to the guide rod and to the bed of the machine by means of an adjusting screw 6 in sliding engagement with track 3. Extending transversely of the sides or ends of the carriage at is a rod 7 forming a shaft on which a manually rocked frame comprising a transverse bar 8 and a handle 9 is mounted. The ends of the bar 8 are formed with arms 10 between which is journaled an impression roller 11 for pressing a sheet of paper upon the impression bed 1. To insure pressure on the sheet on both forward and rearward strokes of the carriage which is effective by the operation of the handle 9, a latch 12 is pivotally mounted at one side of the carriage, the latch under the force of a spring 13 being engaged in notch 14 in one of the arms 10 on the forward stroke of the carriage 4 as the frame 8 rocks to press the paper upon the duplicating bed. The latch maintains this operative position until it is unlocked on the reverse stroke of the carriage through contact with the abutment l5, whereupon the frame is released and can be rocked by the operator through handle 9 to lift the impression roller off of impression. To insure rotation of the roller 11 on both the forward and return strokes the roller flanges.

shaft 16 is projected beyond one side of the carriage 4 and is equipped with the drum 17 encircled by a drive belt 18 fixedly fastened at its opposite ends to the duplicating machine.

Pivotally mounted on the inner face of the opposite sides of the carriage 4 are a pair of downwardly extending arms 19 which are yieldingly urged toward the impression roller 11 by the spring 20. Journaled between the lower ends of arms 19 is an auxiliary feed or pressure roller 21, movement of the roller under the action of the spring toward the impression roller being limited by a stop suitably positioned in the side frames of the carriage. From the above it will be seen that with the frame 8 in depressed operative position the impression roller will have contact with the surface of the duplicating bed and will engage the pressure roller 21 to impress a sheet of paper inserted between the rollers upon the surface of the duplicating bed during forward movement of the carriage and to strip the same therefrom during rearward movement. The tray of the present invention comprises 'a flat bed plate 22 formed along adjacent edges with upstanding flanges 23 and 24, the former constituting the bottom or paper supporting portion of the tray and the latter being a paper retaining flange along the right hand edge of the tray as viewed in Figure 1. The bottom portion 23 is preferably provided with a triangular filler block 25 which offsets the upper edge of the sheets for the convenience of the operator and which also insures better stability to the pile of loose sheets on the tray. In order that the operator may conveniently feed the sheets from the left hand margin and -lower edge the bed plate 22 is preferably provided with a finger or cut-out portion 26 and with the member 27 adjustable on the tray by means of notches 28 so that narrow sheets may be held in proper position with relation to the finger opening.

The bottom 23 is formed with an extension or supporting plate 30 preferably extending in a plane parallel to the bed of the paper tray 22 and terminating just short of interfering with auxiliary plate to be presently described, the ends thereof are formed with upstanding flanges 1 32, Figure 2, which curve rearwardly and downwardly to merge into the tray bed 22 and the flange 24 formed on the same. Resting on the top edges of the flanges 32 is the auxiliary or bridge plate 33, above referred to, the same being provided with a pair of ears 34 embracing the side flanges 32 and being adjustably and detachably held in position by clamping screws 35 carried by flanges for which purpose the ears are slotted, so as to permit ready disengagement of the bridge plate with the upstanding It will thus be seen that the supporting plate 30 and bridge plate 33 provide the feeding hopper for receiving the sheets to be printed from the paper tray 22 and which func- -.tions to direct the sheets toward the feed rollers 11 and 21, respectively.

At the beginning of a printing operation the carriage 4 is positioned at the extreme left hand end, Figure 3, with the feed rollers 11 and 21 in their dotted line position, that is, with the bed 1 and spaced from the pressure roller 21 to permit the insertion of a sheet between the rollers which will abut the margin stop 36, determining the forward margin on the sheet. The operator then grasps the handle 9 to rock the frame 8, causing the impression roller 11 to impress the marginal edge of the sheet upon the duplicating bed, and as the carriage is given movement away from the operator the sheet is impressed upon the bed for its entire length to complete the duplicating operation. Upon movement ofthe carriage toward the operator the stripping of the sheet from the duplicating bed takes place and the rollers function to automatically discharge the sheet between the bridge plate 33 of the hopper and the guide plate 37 secured to the frame 8 and positioned in overhanging relation with the impression roller 11. Simultaneously with the stripping operation the operator is free to grasp the topmost sheet from the pile supported by the tray 22 and to drop the same into the hopper formed by the supporting and guide plates 30 and 33, respectively. The hopper directs the marginal edge of the sheet toward the feeding rollers and when the rollers are separated at the completion of the duplicating operation, that is, when the carriage again assumes its position at the extreme left hand end of the bed, Figure 3, the sheet is free to drop between the rollers until it abuts the margin 36, whereupon the carriage is ready for initiating another operation.

It may happen with the duplicating of certain sizes of sheets that the upper marginal edge will be retained within the hopper provided on the carriage in which case discharging of the sheet will take place outwardly through the hopper instead of between the bridge plate and the guide 33 and 37, respectively. This, however, does not interfere with the insertion of the blank sheet to be printed since the same can be dropped into the hopper under the sheet being discharged and when the latter is completely ejected from the feed rollers and the same are in spaced inoperative position, the fed sheet will be located by gravity between them and against the margin stop as in the previous case. From the above it will be clear that the operations may be practically continuous, it being unnecessary for the operator to pause in reciprocating the carriage back and forth over the duplicating bed since the sheets may be fed by hand at the end of the forward stroke while the previous sheet is still in the machine. It is obvious that this gain in operating time will materially increase the output without additional effort on the part of the operator of the machine.

The construction provides the guide plates 37 which overlie in close proximity to the impresv;

sion roller 11 and are secured to the rocking frame 8 for the purpose of insuring that the paper sheets as they are fed out of the machine by the feed rollers will not interfere with the parts of the frame structure. Experience has shown that it makes no difference whether the paper passes back through the hopper or whether it overlies the bridge plate 33 since it is evident that succeeding sheets may be fed into the hopper just as soon as the leading edge of the discharging sheet has moved upwardly sufiiciently to overlie or pass beyond the mouth of the hopper, whereby the sheet being fed must inevitably be positioned below rather than on impression roller raised from the duplicating topof the preceding sheet.

In Figures 4 and 5 there is disclosed a slightly modified form of hopper and guide plate construction in which the members are so proportioned that they cooperate to insure the back feed of the discharging sheet through the hopper regardless of the narrowness of the margin on the sheet being discharged. In this construction the bridge plate 133 extends down toward the impression and pressure rollers 11 and 21, respectively, as close as possible without interfering with their operation and along its marginal edge is formed with a series of spaced fingers 149 and cut-out portions 141. The guide plate 137 carried by the rocking frame 8 is formed along its upper marginal edge with a series of flanges 142 provided with cut-out portions 143. When the rocking frame is in its printing or operative position, at which time the sheets are between the feeding rollers regardless of whether they are being fed into the machine or discharged therefrom, the parts just described are so proportioned that the flanges of the guide plate will be received within notches 141 of the bridge plate and the fingers of the latter within notches 143 of the former, the planes of the fingers being slightly within the plane of the inner face of the hopper or bridge member so that the discharging sheets will be absolutely and positively discharged back through the hopper. With this construction it will be evident that the sheet is so confined that it can not pass outside the hopper as may sometimes occur with a very narrow margin as mentioned in connection with the construction shown in Figure 3.

It is to be understood that I do not wish to be limited by the exact embodiment of the device shown, which is merely by way of illustration and not limitation, as various and other forms of the device will of course be apparent to those skilled in the'art without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. In a duplicator, in combination, a reciproeating carriage, a paper supporting plate secured to the carriage, paper feeding rollers journaled in the carriage adjacent the supporting plate, and a feed chute comprising a bridge plate adjustably secured to said supporting plate so as to co-operate therewith in directing the fed sheets toward the rollers.

2. In a duplicating machine, in combination, a paper tray for supporting sheets of paper, a bottom portion formed on said tray, a supporting plate extending from one edge of the bottom portion, and a bridge plate located above and spaced from said supporting plate and in cooporation therewith forming a hopper for receiving the sheets from the tray.

3. In a duplicating machine, in combination, a paper tray for supporting sheets of paper, a bottom portion formed on said tray, a supporting plate extending from the upper edge of the bottom portion, and a bridge plate located above and secured to said supporting plate, said bridge plate being spaced from the supporting plate and in cooperation therewith forming a hopper for receiving the sheets from the tray.

4. In a duplicating machine in combination, a paper tray for supporting sheets of paper, a bottom portion provided on said tray and forming an acute angle with the tray, a supporting plate extending outwardly from said portion and substantially parallel with the tray, and a bridge plate above and spaced from said supporting plate, whereby said bottom portion offsets the upper edges of the sheets to facilitate the feeding of the same to the hopper formed by the plates.

5. In a duplicator, a reciprocating carriage, paper feed rollers carried by said carriage, a paper tray also carried by said carriage and including a bed member having a bottom portion, a paper supporting plate extending from one edge of the bottom portion and terminating short of the feed rollers, and a bridge plate spaced from said paper supporting plate and in cooperation therewith providing a paper feeding hopper.

6. In a duplicator, a reciprocating carriage, paper feed rollers carried by said carriage, a paper tray also carried by said carriage and including a bed member having a bottom portion, a paper supporting plate extending from one edge of the bottom portion and terminating short of the feed rollers, said paper supporting plate being formed with upstanding marginal flanges, and a bridge plate carried by said flanges and spaced from the supporting plate to provide a paper feeding hopper.

7. In a duplicator a reciprocating carriage, paper feed rollers carried by said carriage, a paper tray also carried by said carriage and including a bed member having a bottom portion, a paper supporting plate extending from one edge of the bottom portion and terminating short of the feed rollers, a triangular filler block supported by the bottom portion to offset the upper edges of the sheets supported on the tray, and a bridge plate spaced from said paper supporting plate to form a hopper for receiving the fed sheets.

8. In a duplicator, the combination of a carriage, an oscillating frame carried thereby, an impression roller journaled in the frame and cooperating with a pressure roller mounted in the carriage, a guide plate carried by the frame and positioned above and in proximity to the impression roller, a paper feeding hopper carried by the carriage, and means formed on the upper wall of the hopper for cooperating with the guide plate for causing discharge of the printed sheets through the hopper.

NATHANIEL T. SHEPHERD. 

